The Egyptian Holding Company for Airports & Air Navigation (Ehcaan) has awarded the consultancy contract to oversee the development of Cairo Airport City to US-based Aecom.

Consultants were first invited to submit expressions of interest in May 2010. About 50 consultants submitted bids (MEED 26:8:10).

The consultancy contract involves carrying out the preparation of a development strategy and masterplan for the airport city. The consultant will now carry out a preliminary environmental assessment and develop an estimate of the project’s infrastructure costs. The study also involves recommending contractual schemes for private financing of the airport city development.

The Washington-headquartered World Bank will help to finance the loan. In March 2010, the World Bank approved a $280m loan to help finance the renovation of terminal two at Cairo International airport.

On 22 March, Cairo Airports Company received six bids for the $400m renovation of terminal two at the airport. Cairo Airports Company is a subsidiary of Ehcaan.

The contract is expected to be awarded in July.

The six companies that bid for the contract are:          

• Limak Investment (Turkey)                              
• Enka (Turkey)                                          
• TAV Airports Holding (Turkey), Consolidated Contractors Company (Athens-based), Hassan Allam Sons (local)
• OHL Concesiones (Spain)
• Saudi Binladin Group (Saudi Arabia)
• Orascom Construction Industries (local)/Besix (Belgium)

The renovation of terminal two will involve upgrading the existing passenger terminal so that it can handle up to 7.5 million passengers a year. This is more than double its current capacity of 3.5 million passengers a year. The project will also involve building a new departure hall and airside pier, as well as the construction of larger gates to accommodate Airbus A380 aircraft.